Iran reacts to UN High Commissioner for Human Rights on death penlty against terrorists

Larijani said that he deplored to see the statement released by the UN official on August 5 about death penalty against the terrorists.

He said that the evil phenomenon of terrorism has been one of the serious cases of violating rights of Iranian citizens since the victory of the Islamic Revolution 1979.

Some four Iranian nuclear scientists were martyred in recent years, he said, noting that some 17,000 assassinations have been registered on the dark record of Mujahedin Khalq Organization (MKO), he said, noting that the group is active freely in western states.

In addition to that, Iran's border guards and cultural and diplomatic missions came under terror attacks, which led to kidnapping and martyrdom of a number of diplomats and innocent citizens, the letter said.

Iran as a victim of terrorism will never spare any move to ensure security and fight terrorism, he said, noting that the so-called advocates of human rights have created terrorist groups and are now supporting them.

'Issuance of the statements like the one you released does not correspond to international documents on human rights and does not help the international campaign against terrorism,' he said.

Larijani further noted that the death penalty is not a human rights issue; rather it is judicial issue and deterrent element against the crimes against humanity.

The death penalty should be considered in line with the rights of victims and community's right to live in peace and stability, he said.

All countries are entitled to select its judicial, legal, economic, cultural and political system without the others' interference, he said.

Elsewhere in his letter, Larijani rejected Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein's claim that one of the terrorists named Shahram Ahmadi has been beaten and forced to sign a blank sheet of confessions, describing them as baseless.

At the end of the letter, Larijani said that the international community is expected to help uproot terrorism rather than adopting double standard regarding the anti-terrorism drive.
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